KOTHOR JULDEH HUMILIATED AT BASHARIA MOSQUE
Kothor Juldeh must have left his office last Friday afternoon for congregational prayers hoping his communion with God would pass off peacefully, as always. But what happened at Basharia Mosque was quite the opposite and will now go down in the history of Sierra Leone as the day a Vice President of Sierra Leone was humiliated inside a mosque for purely political reasons. With the greatest to the leaders of the community at the Basharia Mosque, all we’ve heard from them as explanation for what happened makes absolutely no sense to any reasonable Sierra Leonean.
Frankly, the Basharia Mosque is known as the most politically driven religious community in this country. But nobody expected them to stretch things as far as attacking right inside their mosque the second most important person in Sierra Leone who is in fact a devoted Muslim. What were they thinking? So here’s our take on what happened and the explanation that the Basharians have provided so far.
1. The humiliation of the Vice President was clearly avoidable. The leadership of that religious community failed spectacularly to care for a fellow Muslim and indeed the Acting President of Sierra Leone at the time of that incident. Perhaps they even influenced it! They treated him as a member of the political party they hate who had no business worshipping with them.
2. For the Basharians to tell the world that Kothor Juldeh did not inform them in good time about his decision to join them in worship is ludicrous. We don’t know when it became a rule that worshippers have to book a date with the clergy to attend congregational prayers. Those who do so are clearly chasing earthly rewards like big welcome ceremonies and political gratification.
3. The very attempt by the Basharians to tell the world Kothor Juldeh was responsible for the humiliation he faced at their hands inside the house of God is disgraceful. A simple apology to Kothor Juldeh and the religiously tolerant people of Sierra Leone would have healed the wounds and pushed this matter into the hands of historians.
4. Hours after the incident, we have not seen any press release from those individuals and organizations that would have been jumping up and down had the vice presidential guards roughed up a few people even outside the mosque. They would have gone as far as asking for the resignation of Kothor Juldeh. We just want to put this on record.
5. Kothor Juldeh should continue his very commendable decision not to play in the hands of those same people by insisting on those who humiliated him being prosecuted for their crimes. He should simply ignore them and go on with his job. This was the affair of the defeated Tolongbo candidate, Orsamu, going to the same mosque to preach to the converted – even though NOT a Muslim. They were overwhelmingly with him when he lost in 2018. So what’s the point of all the fuss? Those Muslims who stoop so low should be ashamed of themselves. Imagine how many mosques welcomed the non-Muslim APC Vice President Victor Foh! This is taking politics too far and religion too low. All in the name of tribalism! Period!
NO QUALITY INSPECTION FOR 70% OF CONTAINERS. REALLY?
So the boss of the quality control agency – the Standards Bureau turns up at a news conference and tells the nation that 70% of goods containers coming into our country through our ports receive no quality inspection. This announcement came as a shock to many in the audience and left the rest of the country asking what the Bureau itself has been up to. In fact, all this came against the backdrop of several newspaper reports of expired foods flooding our markets.
We also heard from the boss of that agency that his organization was “under-resourced”. Sir, is that the explanation for the fact that 70% of goods containers coming into Sierra Leone are not being inspected to ensure quality? Well, we have some concerns about the Standards Bureau itself that we want to bring to your attention:
1. Professor please tell us precisely when you came to this conclusion you announced the other day. We reckon you’ve been in office for more than a year.
2. If you are not able to attend to 70% of the goods containers you should be dealing with on our behalf because you are “under-resourced”, then what is this agency really doing? We always see nice social media photos of your training workshops and meetings with international bodies. Is that what you people do all the time? Maybe you should simply resign!
3. By the way, why didn’t you have to wait for a news conference organized by the Ministry of Information to make this announcement? Do you have your own media operation?
4. If you cannot attend to 70% of goods containers, why are you certifying goods as fit for the market? How do you know that crooked businesspeople are not corrupting even the 30% we assume you can comfortably handle?
5. We urge the Professor to deal with the corruption among his frontline staff. We mean all of them, not 70% of them. We are talking about those who do the actual inspection.
THE RED MOVEMENT AND THE DEBACLE AT FALABA
As far as the situation in Falaba district is concerned, the Red Movement is in a mess of its own making. When King Messi carved the new district out of what we knew as Koinadugu, his intention was to further increase the Red Camp’s parliamentary majority for his grand political project - the Vladimir Putin style of dominating power for life. That project was defeated by the people of Sierra Leone and now Falaba has turned into something else.
There are lessons coming out of Falaba for all politicians, not just King Messi who felt he owned this country so much that he did not object to his photograph being attached to his new map of Sierra Leone.
1. King Messi must have regretted his ruthless gerrymandering that produced Falaba. They say be careful what you wish for because some actions can produce unintended consequences.
2. By carving out Falaba in the way he did, King Messi unwittingly unshackled some tribes and individuals who were hitherto unable to express themselves politically or otherwise as part of greater Koinadugu. The result is that what appeared unthinkable only a year or so ago is happening as we write.
3. Politicians must never take our people for granted. This idea that they are illiterate and hungry and can be easily manipulated is something to be considered in a serious way as part of the overall political calculation for electoral success.
4. The new winners in Falaba should know that the people in those deprived communities want to see the benefits of democracy in their backyards. Those who did not construct the road to Falaba in 11 years and then tried to make a mockery of the situation by posting pictures on social media of themselves covered in mud on their way to a campaign rally there, have now heard from the people of Falaba.
5. For the Red Camp, Falaba is a political wreck just like their new party office projects in Makeni and Pultney Street in Freetown.
PRESIDENTIAL GUARD GOES BACK TO TRAINING SCHOOL
When that presidential guard who attacked those journalists returns to the training school soon, as part of his punishment for that bad behavior, he should be told he should NEVER raise a finger against the people who pay his salaries whether they are journalists or ghetto boys around. He should also be told that being a presidential guard does not translate into being above the law.
The Minister of Information really managed this situation very well and we commend him for that. This is not the first time journalists have been attacked by presidential guards either at the stadium or in front of State House. We know how those who occupied the Ministry of Information before him handled those incidents – by prevaricating, spinning or blatantly lying. That’s why we refused to be lectured by some of them who now tried to score cheap political points out of this. Well done Mr. Minister.
© 2019 Politico Online
